Learners_ri

We loved this moment of Miranda gathering her preschoolers around to introduce new housekeeping materials to the dramatic play area before putting them in the center to play. She took the time to name the items, talk about what they are for, and explain how we use them safely with her student... setting them up for success!

Miranda is in her last month of LearnERS and received lots of new dramatic play materials (including diverse play food and dress up with accessories) and recognized the importance and role of staff when making materials available and accessible!

Way to go Miranda!

On the topic of process art vs product art.

“Product” art is like— doing a craft. There’s supposed to be a set result and everybody’s is supposed to look a set way. Sometimes I hear arguments for the positive side of product art in terms of teaching children specific fine motor skills; i.e., if everybody has to cut out their project in exactly the same way, then they work on cutting, or things like that. Sure, I can see an argument to be made there. I’m not saying crafts are evil. They’re fine. I loved crafts when I was a kid.

“Process” art is what young children (toddlers, preschoolers, early elementary) are drawn to if they’re not interfered with, though. They aren’t thinking about what the end result will look like when they set out—not if they haven’t been acted upon by an adult or other outside force! They might explore the way colors mix on the paper, they might pretend the pencil is a car zooming around the page, they might try to put stickers on the page and then take them back off to see what happens. They might mix materials in creative ways—stick stickers onto wet paint; squeeze out huge globs of liquid glue; try to color on the liquid glue with markers to see what happens. The focus is on the process.

I honestly find process art perfectly sufficient for learning new fine motor techniques too. Kids, in my experience, have just as much fun (if not more) and learn just as much (if not more) using the scissors to cut out whatever they’re imagining or processing or whatever weird material I’ve set in front of them — leaves from outside, wet noodles, dry noodles, straws, paper scraps — as they do cutting out a set craft material.

“What about waste?” people commonly ask me. “You say that you let kids learn how to glue by just squeezing out glue and not telling them any different, but isn’t that wasteful?”

Play is learning, and learning isn’t wasteful. It’s OK to preemptively only set out what materials you’re OK with them using all of. Put half the bottle of glue away, in a different container, to be returned to the white bottle after you’re done; or put only a bit of it out, in a cup with a paintbrush, or mix it with a bit of water or paint to stretch it, or involve the child in the exploring.

Ask yourself before entering into an art/play exploration: what would I be okay with them literally using one hundred percent of? Only give them access to that much of everything. Kids can be creative within limitations — some of the best art comes from working within boundaries!

[Image description: Six pieces of artwork, each made with what looks like watercolour paint but each one extremely different. One appears to show a butterfly, one shows something like the outline of an elephant, a few look like they have exploration of square-shaped stamps involved, and one looks like an exploration of color mixing. The caption says, “You know you’re doing it right when no two pieces of children’s work look the same.” The image was made by Cuddlebug Kids whose handle is also on the image. End description.]

Seasons greeting from the entire RIAEYC team!

Open-ended questions, what are they and why are they important?

According to NAEYC, "Asking children open-ended questions starts a conversation—and builds a relationship—and it even helps develop children’s brains. Asking them open-ended questions that help them think about how they want to behave, supports reflection, and increases self-control over time."

Visit the link in our bio for more information regarding open-ended questions.

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Class reflection on a farm book 📚

They are giving children the opportunity to make their own connections from the story and letting them create drawings in their own way. Staff added children's dictation showing that print carries meaning. The display looks to be at eye level. What a wonderful, personalized display idea!

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Look at this awesome preschool seasonal counting activity! Add matching dots to the popsicle stick to make this a DIY number quantity material for your classroom. Sit with children and ask them questions like, “How many are there-let’s count,” and “Which one has more? Less?”

Count and decorate the Christmas Tree!
https://planningplaytime.com/christmas-theme-preschool/

🍁 Fall themed water table activity 🍁

Add some hollowed out pumpkins, acorns, measuring cups, and other items. The added materials, along with water, give opportunities for scooping and pouring while exploring a nature/science material. A great way to incorporate science and math talk during water play about concepts like sink and float and lighter and heavier.

Language could include:
▪️"Which one do you think can hold more water? How can we find out?"
▪️"Do you think this will float with 10 acorns in it [counting each acorn as its placed in the pumpkin]?"

Store the pumpkins in a Ziploc bag in the fridge at the end of the day to make them last longer.

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World Teacher’s Day is on October 5th, and we want to express our gratitude for all that teachers do to help children learn and grow!

Mystic Aquarium will offer complimentary general admission for educators AND school support staff from October 5th to 31st*.

Each free educator should make their own reservation and must use their affiliated school/organization email to reserve tickets. You will also need to present your school ID or other proof of employment along with your ticket upon entry. Household family members of educators receive $10 off general admission and must be accompanied by the free ticket holder.

Learn more here: https://bit.ly/46xF213

*Tickets should be reserved in advance to secure your spot. Availability is limited, and tickets often sell out.

Tania invested a lot of time and energy into her Block module goal and focused on sorting her unit blocks by shape, to build independence and introduce early math concepts to the block area. To introduce this new arrangement and help her students learn how to use the materials, we recommended she try the “traveling circle time” strategy. An example of this would be to bring them to the block area for circle and engage them with open-ended questions such as, “What can we do with blocks?” “Our block area looks a little different, today. What do you notice about the block shelf?”

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Love these pictures from our LearnERS teacher, Miss Ulianne (ECERS), at Roger Williams Day Care Center. The girls are enjoying the new culturally diverse dress up clothes in the dramatic play area and in the back we have a nice big block area with plenty of space for children to build together using their new wooden hollow blocks and cars. This student independently built this structure and then allowed her peers to join her and add pieces to the structure. Learning through play is what our early childhood classrooms are made of!

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